If you’re in the market for a streaming box, the choice usually comes down to two options: Apple TV or Roku. There are other boxes on the market, but the Apple TV and Roku 3 remain the most recommendable mainstream devices for adding streaming content to your TV. They’re both highly polished products that offer …
Read More »Matthew Moskovciak
Redbox Instant coming to Roku this summer
Roku’s industry-leading 750+ channel library is about to get one bigger. Redbox Instant announced today that its streaming-video service is headed to Roku’s set-top boxes this summer. Redbox Instant’s streaming catalog is relatively limited compared with its big-name competitors (8,000 titles on Redbox Instant compared with more than 33,000 for Amazon Instant by recent count), but makes up for it …
Read More »Six challenges for integrated TV on the Xbox One
The Xbox One may primarily be a gaming console, but one of the major focuses of Microsoft’s press event was One Guide: the Xbox One’s new interface for navigating your live TV content. By including an HDMI input, the Xbox One can integrate cable TV content right into the Xbox Dashboard, serving up a prettier grid of channels than what …
Read More »Roku’s PBS, PBS Kids channels go live, stream full episodes
Way back at CES 2013, Roku announced a slate of new channels to go live in the first quarter of 2013, including a PBS app capable of streaming full episodes. Roku is a little behind on its deadline, but today both PBS and PBS Kids channels are launching on the company’s streaming boxes. The PBS app promises content from prime-time …
Read More »DirecTV adding voice search to smartphone app this summer
With satellite and cable TV packages hovering around the “thousand channel” mark, the common complaint isn’t that there’s nothing to watch–it’s that it’s difficult and tedious to find what you’re looking for. DirecTV That’s the problem that DirecTV’s upcoming voice search functionality is aiming to solve. While DirecTV already offers search functionality on its DVRs, the new voice search features …
Read More »Roku shutting down VideoBuzz channel for streaming YouTube on the sly
Roku has over 750 official channels, but YouTube is still missing. Sarah Tew/CNET One of the biggest shortcomings of the otherwise excellent Roku 3 is its lack of an official YouTube channel, although savvy users can get around that limitation with a variety of workarounds, including the “private” VideoBuzz channel. Or at least used to be able to. Related stories …
Read More »Home audio for the minimalists: 3 pedestal sound bars compared
Pedestal-style sound bars are the latest evolution in the simplification of home audio. Instead of placing a long sound bar in front of your TV, pedestal sound bars are designed to sit under your TV, for a cleaner look with considerably less clutter. It’s by far the easiest way to improve on the sound of your TV with the least …
Read More »Amazon Cloud Player arrives on Roku, Samsung Smart TVs
It’s been months since Roku announced that the Amazon Cloud Player was “coming soon,” but today the company finally made good on that promise. Amazon’s cloud music service is now available on Roku and Samsung Smart TVs, offering the ability to stream your own digital music tracks without needing to keep a separate computer running. For Roku, it’s a solid …
Read More »Netflix ranks ISPs by streaming performance, Google Fiber wins
Internet service provider (ISP) performance is notoriously hard to quantify, but there’s at least one company that has tons of real-world data: Netflix. The streaming-video king released a report this morning ranking 21 major U.S. ISPs based on real-world streaming performance. Google Fiber came in the lead by quite at bit, with an average of 2.55 Mbps in November, with …
Read More »Boxee TV early adopters get 3 months of free service, reduced $10 monthly fee
Boxee TV is already beginning to show up at Wal-Mart, and now there’s a good reason to head there sooner, rather than later. Boxee has released some additional promotional details for early adopters of Boxee TV. If you purchase a Boxee TV during the holiday season, you’ll get three months of free month of “No Limits DVR” service, plus you’ll …
Read More »